This invention generally relates to a SIM card for M2M applications and an M2M device.
The term M2M commonly designates “machine to machine communication”. For example, M2M technology is designed to allow machines, industrial units, vehicles or generally any piece of equipment to communicate with any other machine, industrial unit, vehicle, device, server or generally any remote piece of equipment, with no human intervention, for example for applications relating to remote surveillance, telemetry, alerts, vehicle fleet management, assistance to persons etc.
Thanks to the growth in wireless communication technology (GSM, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi etc.), M2M has now become an extremely efficient and competitive solution, for instance for managing remote machine bases. Where work in the field was once indispensable for monitoring, controlling or maintaining machines distributed in different locations, the integration of network connectivity and web technologies has made it possible to manage those machines remotely.
As part of the use of wireless telecommunications network(s) such as those of the GSM and GPRS types, the M2M device used typically comprises a communication unit (which in turn comprises means for processing baseband and radiofrequency signals) and a SIM card.
Conventionally, in a wireless communication terminal such as a GSM terminal for example, the SIM card is an external element and is removable from the communication terminal with which it is associated. Indeed, its task is to identify a “subscriber”, who may need to change terminals without wanting to change their identifier associated with the SIM card. The card is placed in a space provided in the communication device and is inserted in that space by sliding it into a slot or opening provided for that purpose. It may be changed physically during the life of the communication device, for instance in order to obtain more functions or to change operators.
During the production of SIM cards, in a stage called the personalisation of the SIM card, the SIM card manufacturer puts in place in the SIM card functions that have been required by the operator and stores the parameters of the operator (such as for instance secret keys, encryption algorithms etc.)
As part of M2M applications, communication units are often embedded in equipment and are thus not easily accessible.
M2M devices are devices that may be left without particular human monitoring as they are integrated into equipment or machines that are away from all human presence and are thus liable to undergo degradations aimed at stealing the SIM card in order to reuse the mobile telephone subscription associated with it fraudulently.